Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Historic Visit to UC Hastings
University of California Hastings College of the Law, the first law school of the American West, was honored to welcome U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to campus on September 15, 2011.
Justice Ginsburg was interviewed by Professor Joan C. Williams before a fully packed auditorium of law students, alumni, faculty, practitioners and others as part of Legally Speaking, a series of probing interviews with prominent lawyers, judges, and academics, co-produced by UC Hastings and California Lawyer.
Professor Williams began the conversation by thanking Justice Ginsburg for her presence, and alluded to an incident the day before in which Justice Ginsburg was forced to evacuate her flight to San Francisco. "Not everybody is willing to jump out of a plane onto an inflatable slide," joked Williams.
"I had not planned that as part of my journey here," replied Justice Ginsburg.
The interview touched on a broad range of subjects, from opera to marriage to work/life balance, doctrinal questions, and cases from the 1970's to present, including the court's role in establishing individual rights and equal protection.
“You can have all the rights in the world,” said Justice Ginsburg, “but if you can't enforce them, they don't mean very much.”
“For all people, we should not be stopped from pursuing whatever talent God has given us, simply because we are of a certain race, certain religion, certain national origin, a certain gender or gender preference.”
The interview has been aired on C-SPAN, and writeups appeared nationally:
- Conversation with Justice Ginsburg, C-SPAN Video Library
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg San Francisco Speech: Supreme Court Justice Talks Death Penalty, Gay Rights At UC Hastings, by Paul Elias, Huffington Post
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Death Penalty, Gender Equality and That Elephant Ride With Scalia, by Ariane de Vogue, ABC News
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Love, Law and Sliding Off Planes, by Sajid Farooq, NBC News
- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Speaks To Law Students In SF, by Julia Cheever, Bay City News
- Justice Ginsburg discusses equality, death penalty, by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle
Engaging Students
Justice Ginsburg was particularly interested in engaging with students during her visit to UC Hastings. Earlier in the day, she joined Professor David Faigman’s Constitutional Law class and then met with the editors and staff of the UC Hastings Women's Law Journal.
Justice Ginsburg in Professor David Faigman’s Constitutional Law class. Photo credit: James Block.
This Legally Speaking event was filmed by UCTV and CSPAN. Past interviews are posted online at uchastings.edu/legally-speaking, and an announcement will be made when the interview is available for viewing.
Related Links
- Legally Speaking: Conversations with the Most Interesting Lawyers in the World
- Professor Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Hastings Foundation Chair, Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law
- Professor David L. Faigman, John F. Digardi Distinguished Professor of Law, Director, UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy